Emma Vardy
Reporting from court

The prosecution attorney Jason Lewis has finished his opening statement.

It paints a picture of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed as someone who was simply careless with live ammunition she owned personally, and the blank rounds intended for the film set, that she had on her at different times.

Bullets of live ammunition she had at home somehow ended up interspersed with blank rounds in boxes used on set, the court hears.

The jury are essentially being told that bullets were somehow mixed up.

But this carelessness had tragic consequences.

The prosecution says that had Hannah Gutierrez-Reed been more diligent in checking each individual bullet as it was loaded into a gun, then the mistake would have been detected.

The prosecution says it was “incomprehensible” that live ammunition should ever end up on a movie set.

Emma Vardy
Reporting from court

We’ve reached a piece of evidence, which is really at the crux of this case.

The court is being shown a picture of a box of ammunition that was seized by police. Each of the bullet casings is brown, with a brassy colour on top.

But nestled among the rows of bullets, one is clearly different - it's got a silver top.

“One of these cartridges doesn’t look like the others,” says Jason Lewis for the prosecution.

It’s one of six live bullets that was found on set - as well as the one that was in the firearm used by Mr Baldwin.

Lewis then showed a picture of a box filled with live ammunition brough from Gutierrez-Reed's home. He says the bullets ended up being spread through the set. The defendant brought them from out of state, prosecution alleges.

The round wasn't detected, however, because the armorer didn't follow safety protocols, he emphasises - again.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

Jason Lewis, the prosecuting attorney, is really picking up the criticism of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is sitting just ten feet away.

And Gutierrez-Reed is unflinchingly staring at him while he gives his opening statement, shaking her head at some claims. The rest of her legal team is furiously taking notes in preparation of their rebuttal.

Lewis has focused on Gutierrez-Reed's responsibility as an armorer. She oversaw checking rounds to ensure they were dummies and not live. She is also supposed to show any gun to the first assistant director to double check.

Mr Lewis says say she often skipped this step or rushed through it. He says she was sloppy not thorough enough in her job.

Hannah Guitierrez-Reed was asked to supply a gun to Alec Baldwin for what is known as blocking, which is when actors and the crew work out how they will move through a scene, prosecution attorney Jason Lewis says.

Lewis says there was no need for the live firearm during the blocking, but Gutierrez-Reed retrieved the gun from a safe and completed a "sloppy and incomplete" safety check.

This is the crux of the prosecution's argument - they are framing Gutierrez-Reed as reckless, messy and sloppy as an armorer.

"We will show you, ladies and gentlemen, that by failing to make those vital safety checks the defendant acted negligently and without due caution - and the decisions, she made that day, ultimately contributed to Ms Hutchins death," Lewis says.

The judge has finished her introduction and opening statements have begun, staring with the prosecution.

Attorney Jason Lewis begins by walking the jury through what they can expect from the prosecution's case and explains some of the more technical knowledge that is central to the matter.

One of the key things to understand is what's called a "dummy round", which is a bullet that does not contain any gun powder. He says one of the ways these can be identified is by three small pieces contained within it, which make a noise when the round is shaken.

Lewis then begins walking through the timeline of the day of the fatal shooting, and shows the jury a video of Alec Baldwin in costume, practicing drawing a gun from a holster.

Emma Vardy
Reporting from court

The judge reminds the jury "not to Google" anything about this case. It’s a standard instruction to jurors, but in a particularly high profile case such as this, which has had huge coverage, it’s an important instruction.

But it's not just the internet that can cause trouble.

Anyone who’s spent time in court knows how easy it is to bump into key people from a proceeding trial during breaks around the building.

The judge addresses this by telling the jury that if they are to run into any of the prosecution or defence teams in the elevators, that a simple “good morning” is ok, but they are not to speak to them other than this.

She tells jurors that while it is natural to speak to people you see every day, that if people ignore them ‘they are not being rude’.

Emma Vardy
Reporting from court

Finally getting started, jurors are in and the photographer in court is snapping away pictures of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

The judge has explained the charges to the jury, saying the defendant is charged with causing the death of Halyna Hutchins, by the use of a deadly weapon.

She is also charged with tampering with evidence, "transferring narcotics to another person".

The judge reminds the jury that Hannah is presumed innocent, unless proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The judge asks the jury to pay close attention to the evidence.

Unlike in the UK where everyone in court stands up for the judge entering, here the court is asked to rise when the jury walk in too.

The judge says to the jury “we stand up as respect to you, as you are the ultimate decision makers in this case."

It’s a solemn start to remind jurors of their duty.

We're hearing from Judge Mary Marlowe Summer who begins by giving an explanation of the trial procedure.

Judge Summer then reads out the charges to defendant Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, jurors and the defence counsel.

After a delay because a juror was stuck in traffic, court has now started.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer thanks the jurors for waiting and says, "accidents happen".

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

The judge has just re-entered the courtroom.

As we wait for the jury to be seated, let’s look back at jury selection yesterday, which surprisingly wrapped in one day.

There was a first pool of 70 potential jurors, most of whom were familiar with the Rust shooting.

And a little after 17:00 local time, seven men and five women were chosen.

As with any jury selection, some jurors expressed the personal and life difficulties that serving on a jury would pose.

One woman said her dog was having surgery and it couldn’t be rescheduled.

Questions to jurors were focused on their thoughts on gun laws and culture. They were also asked about any underlying sympathies for Hannah being a young, inexperienced woman in a male dominated industry.

One man told the judge he thought Hannah got a raw deal. He was dismissed.

At the end of a long day of waiting and more waiting, jurors were annoyed with all the waiting around.

But hey, that’s jury duty!

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

The lawyers for both sides have re-entered the court room, as well as Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. She’s sitting at the defence desk, keeping her head down, occasionally listening to whispers from her lawyer.

The prosecution and defence lawyers are chatting, so it doesn’t seem to be hostile before the gavel.

The judge is still not back in the courtroom.

While we wait for the trial to resume, let's take a look at what an armourer actually is.

The role of an armourer is to supervise the use of weapons on a film or television set, and to make sure actors and crew are being safe with any prop weapons.

There is no definitive set of regulations on the use of firearms across the film industry, but a list of suggested rules has been published by the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee, external.

Its advice includes:

• Blanks can kill. Treat all firearms as though they are loaded
• Refrain from pointing a firearm at yourself or anyone else
• Never place your finger on the trigger unless you're ready to shoot
• Anyone involved in using a firearm must be thoroughly briefed at an on-set safety meeting
• Only a qualified person should load a firearm
• Protective shields, eye and hearing protection should be used by anyone in close proximity or the line of fire
• Any actor who is required to stand near the line of fire should be allowed to witness the loading of the firearms

The committee points out its guidelines are "not binding laws or regulations".

You can read more here.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

Traffic never cooperates.

One of the jurors is stuck in traffic from an accident.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has just walked out of the courtroom, looking stoic with her lawyer. They are going to wait out the delay in a private room.

The court room is not nearly as full as we anticipated. There are several members of the press, but the public benches are mostly empty.

The jury has just arrived.

According to court documents, a jury of 12 people and four alternates were selected on Wednesday for this trial. Seven are male and five are female.

The additional alternates are male.

We've started seeing people filter into court, and expect the trial to begin shortly.

Just a reminder that you can watch a live stream from inside the courtroom by pressing the play button at the top of this page.

Image source, Getty Images

Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot when actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing with a gun on the Rust film set, was a rising cinematographer.

She is survived by her husband Matthew Hutchins, and son, Andros. Hutchins was 42-years-old.

The Ukrainian film-maker had been working as director of photography on the set of Rust when she died. American Cinematographer magazine, external had named her one of its rising stars in 2019, and she previously worked on 2020 independent superhero film Archenemy.

Alex Fedosov, who like Hutchins is a Ukrainian film-maker working in Hollywood, said she was "rising fast in her career" and was "an artist and a visionary".

"She was so talented, a photography director with her own vision, her own strong ideas," he told BBC News Ukrainian.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from court

No one dies on a movie set if someone didn’t make a mistake, so lawyers from each side will be heavily pointing fingers.

The prosecution is going to argue that if Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was doing her job correctly, she would have noticed that there was a live bullet, not a dummy round, going into the gun.

That mistake, they’ll say, was negligent and reckless.

The defence is going to argue that there was a high chain of command on set, and that others are responsible for the shooting.

Alec Baldwin pulled trigger, the safety coordinator did not give her enough prep time, and an armourer should never have more than one job (her job was part armourer, part prop assistant for budget reasons).

Therefore, they will argue she wasn’t reckless and that it was the production company that was reckless and Hannah is taking the fall.

But, if the prosecution can prove that Gutierrez Reed actually brought live rounds to set, then going to be very difficult for the defence to prove her innocence - as it was her job to distinguish between lives, dummies and blanks.

Hanna Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence.

She faces up to three years in prison if convicted.

Gutierrez-Reed was the armourer in charge of weapons on the film set of Rust. Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set when a prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin went off at point-blank range as they were rehearsing a scene.

Baldwin, 65, had been practising firing a pistol. He has maintained he did not pull the trigger of the Colt .45 pistol and only drew back its hammer.

Baldwin has also been charged with involuntary manslaughter, but his trial's start date has not been set.

Image source, Reuters

Actor Alec Baldwin was drawing a revolver across his body and pointing it at a camera during a rehearsal on a US film set when it fired, according to legal documents.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured.

Baldwin was handed a prop gun and told it was unloaded, court documents said. Souza was standing behind Hutchins when they were both hit, according to the affidavit.

"Joel stated that they had Alec sitting in a pew in a church building setting, and he was practicing a cross draw," it said.

"Joel said he was looking over the shoulder of [Hutchins], when he heard what sounded like a whip and then loud pop.”

The document said 42-year-old Hutchins was shot in the chest area.

"Joel then vaguely remembers [Hutchins] complaining about her stomach and grabbing her mid-section. Joel also said [Hutchins] began to stumble backwards and she was assisted to the ground.”

You can read more here.

Emma Vardy
Reporting from court

Only a small number of people have ever been tried for an accident on a film set - and the shooting on the set of Rust and the death of Halyna Hutchins was a huge shock to the industry.

It led to calls from actors for greater safety on sets and made many people working around weapons on set more cautious.

While some directors still prefer the feel of using authentic guns in scenes, increasingly now digital effects are used instead of any "real" gunfire from blanks or dummy rounds.